Facts emerged on Thursday of how former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced money politics, popularly known as Ghana must go, into National Assembly.
Obasanjo was said to have done this in the bid to curry the favour of the federal lawmakers.
Also, Obasanjo was said to have decided to work against the emergence of late Chuba Okadigbo as the President of the Senate because the former President believed that he will be difficult to manipulate compared to Evan Enwerem.
These facts are contained in a book to be launched on the Fourth Republic National Assembly.
According to the book slated for public presentation on Monday at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, the first time money exchanged hands in the Fourth Republic National Assembly was at inception in 1999 when Obasanjo moved to stop the Senate presidency bid of Senator Chuba Okadigbo, who was adopted by the leadership of the ruling party at that time, the Peoples Democratic Party, to emerge as the Senate president.
Obasanjo’s preference was Senator Enwerem, who decamped from the All Peoples Party to the PDP after winning his election to represent Owerri Senatorial District of Imo State.
Obasanjo’s preference for him was said to be on account of his belief that Enwerem would be much easier to control and rail-road than an Okadigbo who is seen as single-minded.
The book revealed that even before the inauguration of the Senate on June 3, 1999, large amount of money was moved in to rally senators elected on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy and the APP and to divide PDP senators towards actualizing Obasanjo’s inclination for Enwerem
The book, written by Dr. Austin Ugawan, concluded that it was at this point that the seed of mercantile politics was sown in the National Assembly.
The book drove its point home on page 99 thus: “Obasanjo’s desperation to move against the popular wish of the ruling party at that time unfortunately opened a Pandora box of monumental financial enticement and mercantile politics in the federal legislature.”
The book noted that this was further consolidated during Obasanjo’s unpopular third term project in 2006, which was eventually killed by the lawmakers
The book provides detailed and robust images, account and analyses of the first eight years Fourth Republic National Assembly embellished with scholarly media perspectives.